Good morning, all! I hope your Thursday is off to a great start!
It was not a good baseball winter meeting for the New York Mets, who lost both free agents Edwin Diaz and Pete Alonso. Now what do they do? I break it down in the above video.
Here are some other thoughts as I ponder grabbing a first basemen’s mitt and trying out for the Mets. Hey, Phillip Rivers is making a comeback!
Kudos to Brian Mik, the Senior Associate Athletic Director of the University of Hartford. Mik is as baseball savvy a person as I know, and as I walked out of the Chase Family Arena on the campus of the University of Hartford Tuesday night, Mik turned to my broadcast partner Jeff Dooley and me and said: “Alonso is going to the Orioles tomorrow!” He was right.
And while I am at it, let me put in a plug for the University of Hartford’s athletic programs. The school had to adjust to Division 3 and they have done it in a superb way, led by new university president Lawrence P. Ward, new Director of Athletics and Recreation Alicia Queally, Mik and their staff.
Jeff and I broadcast the Hartford men’s and women’s basketball home games and if you have never been to a game and are a basketball fan, you are in for quite a treat, when you attend. I am so impressed with Division 3 basketball. These are tremendous athletes, playing a quick-paced style of hoops.
The university is easy to get to, the arena is first class, the games are affordable and the entertainment is first rate. Trust me. If you attend a University of Hartford basketball game, you will enjoy the experience. This is college sports the way it was meant to be. And starting in January, the men and women play doubleheaders. It is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon or weeknight evening. Two games and you are in and out in under four hours.
Here are the links to the men and women basketball schedules. And when you come to the games, drop by and say hello to Jeff and me.
Shocker in Ann Arbor as former UConn athletic director Warde Manuel, now the AD at Michigan, announced that football coach Sherrone Moore was fired for cause. Michigan would only say that he was dismissed for an “inappropriate relationship with a staffer,” which violates school policy. Expect some big names to chase one of the most prestigious positions in college football coaching. Already names such as Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman are being bantied about.
By the way, just because the baseball winter meetings did not produce mega player movements, other than Edwin Diaz, Pete Alonso and Kyle Schwarber, does not mean there will not be any activity soon. Sometimes the groundwork is laid at these gatherings, with big signings announced within days. You could see some activity between now and Christmas.
Each NFL owner is kicking in a million dollars, totaling $32M in all, to start a National Flag Football League. The idea is to be prepared for flag football, when it becomes a sport in the 2028 Olympics. I used to love to play flag football and I think I still have the bruises to prove it.
Things have gone south so quickly for the Colts, word is 44-year-old Phillip Rivers may even start at QB at Seattle on Sunday. Rivers is already being nicknamed “Grandpa,” as he has one grandchild. The Seahawks are 13.5-point favorites.
Tonight’s NFL contest has the slumping Bucs as 4.5-point favorites against the disappointing Falcons.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for being a subscriber and have a terrific day!
DAN
